


The Ghost of Slytherin

by SOSwalt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 06:10:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17719610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SOSwalt/pseuds/SOSwalt
Summary: Sorting, like family, isn't up to you at all.





	The Ghost of Slytherin

"SLYTHERIN!"

The entire school sat in shocked silence as the Sorting Hat of Hogwarts placed a petite, black haired boy into the one house that no one would have ever thought possible. No one clapped for the poor boy. No one cheered. Even the teachers seemed incapable of responding at all to the declaration that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was being sorted into the house of snakes rather than the house of his parents. It was only by the sheer force of habit that the hat was removed from the boy's head by McGonagall, the transfiguration professor. 

The meek boy quietly walked over to an empty spot at the house table with his eyes cast towards the ground. He sat, trying his best to disappear from the awkward silence and stares. If one paid close attention, you could see the boy almost shake with fear. But no one really paid any attention to the child himself, but rather the idea of him and the placing in which just happened before their eyes. 

But Harry did his best to ignore it all. In fact, he drifted off in thought so deep, he never heard that the sorting continued the way it was supposed to. He never saw the food that appeared magically before him at the wave of the Headmaster's hand. He wasn't aware of the whispering and the glares of the other Slytherins. He only took notice of his surroundings when he was yanked painfully from his seat by the prefect tasked with leading the first years to the dormitories. 

He flinched under the hard gaze of the boy, and moved quickly to catch up with the rest of the first years. He kept his eyes down, in hopes to not catch any more negative attention to himself. He scolded himself, since he knew better. Life at the Dursley's taught him better than that. Though with how famous he found himself to be in the last month, he doubted he would ever be able to keep his head down completely. But as he berated himself over forgetting his number one lesson, he was herded into a small room in the darkest part of the dungeon. He cursed once more once he realized he spaced out again and saw that there weren't any first years in this room, but filled with older students, all looking disgusted with him. 

"Harry Potter."

Harry looked at the boy who spoke to him. He was ugly looking boy, as if he was really a troll rather than a wizard. But Harry supposed that is was only by normal people standards of a troll, since he had no idea if trolls really existed. 

"You picked the wrong house boy. You are not welcome among our ranks of proud Slytherins," the boy rambled on. The other students, all male, laughed in solidarity to the seemingly funny joke. It only served to confuse Harry more. "So because of that, we are never going to show you where Slytherin house is, because you do not deserve it. Instead, this will be your new room where the trash like yourself is kept."

Harry quickly scanned the room. It was cold down there, and the room was bare besides a few broken desks and chairs. Tucked into one of the corners was a broken cot, the fabric torn completely off in one corner and the metal bent. Suddenly, pain bloomed across his jaw. He fell to the ground with a cry, not understanding what was happening. It was almost as if his Uncle was in the room and magic was nothing but a delusion. 

"Pay attention to me when I am speaking to you, damn mudblood. You need to learn how to respect your betters when we have so graciously given you gifts such as these." The boy yelled loudly in Harry's ears, which were ringing already from the first hit. But as the boy yelled, he rained down even more blows upon the feeble looking boy. "I think we will need to teach you a lesson."

If Harry thought he suffered before, it was nothing compared to this. Instead of using fists, the boys in the room turned to using spells. Harry obviously didn't recognize any of the spells used, but he did recognize the malicious tones. They were the same that Dudley and his gang had when they used to play Harry Hunting. But this was so much worse. Harry could feel each and every cut made into his skin. He could feel the nerves in his body being lit on fire. He could feel the breath escape his lungs but struggled to bring any back. He could not tell how long he writhed on the floor, but it certainly felt like an eternity. 

But eventually the older students grew bored and decided they had taught the disgusting mudblood his lesson, and retreated from the room. Harry continued to struggle, pain rippling through his tiny body. Blood leaked onto the floor, causing his already poor vision to swim. He painfully pulled himself up, shivering as he did though he couldn't tell whether it was from the cold of the room or the spasms in his muscles. He crawled until he could get to the cot, got himself up onto it, and fell asleep. As he did, he just hoped that when he woke, it would all just be a terrible dream.

\--//--

September sixth brought on new challenges all its own. As the day finished, the first of many staff meetings started to talk about the conclusion of the first week of school. The professors talked amiably to each other as they waited for the Headmaster to arrive so they could begin the meeting. Some already had markings to get to, so they were eager to finish this arguably useless meeting in order to finish before the weekend started. They did not have to wait long, as the Headmaster soon strode in with his usual bright colors and twinkling eyes. 

"Excellent. I am glad to see all of you here. Lets get this under way shall we?" Dumbledore lowered himself gracefully into his head chair and they were off onto the updates of the week. They started with the N.E.W.T. students first, since they had the largest workload and needed the most attention to get through the year. Next were the O.W.L. students, again for the same reason. A myriad of topics passed before they reached the final topic of the meeting, the first years. The elective teachers left as they never handled the first years, and left only the core teachers and Head of Houses. Each started on who they thought would be good in each of their classes and who would most likely struggle. The Heads each talked about the boys and girls settling into the new life of a boarding student away from home and how they handled the change over. But when they reached Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherin, he quickly passed over most of his students as they were exemplary members of the house. But the name of Harry Potter was soon drug up by the jolly headmaster. 

"That boy," Snape stated, "seems to think himself to good to grace us with his presence. He skipped out on today's potion lesson without a note or cause. I spoke to young Malfoy, and apparently he was told that Potter said he would never want to be part of our house and hasn't even stepped foot into the dorms. Though where he is sleeping most nights, who can guess."

But his calloused response got the other teachers thinking. It was Sprout who spoke first. "Indeed. Now that I recall, Mr. Potter failed to show up to my class as well. I thought it was merely because he was lost on the first week of school." The other professors started to nod in agreement. It wasn't odd for a student to miss the odd class or so the first week, and definitely not out of the question to be late. But to be entirely nonexistent was out of the question. Dumbledore's eyebrows furrowed in concern and puzzlement. 

"I think that we may need to find Mister Potter. This may be pressing. I hope it is nothing but this is very concerning indeed. He very may well be..."

The headmaster didn't get to finish his thought as the door to the staff room burst open, revealing a Hufflepuff prefect. "Professors! Come quick. Something terrible is going on in the dungeons!"

Alarmed, the staff quickly scrambled to follow the student down towards the disturbance. The prefect told them as he ran, "I saw a small blue light down in the dungeons while on patrol and heard some soft crying. I thought it might have been a lost student but when I got closer, the figure looked up at me in fear and disappeared in a blink. Then some wind picked up and it was as if a lighting storm went off down there. I ran to get you as soon as I could."

With that news, the teachers were soon surprised to see Albus Dumbledore out pace them all towards the dungeons. And when they arrived, it was indeed as the boy said. The stone walls were being charred by wild lighting, which was providing the only light as the lanterns had blown out despite being magical. Albus pulled out his wand and began to chant a series of spells. The storm quickly died down and the corridor became eerily quiet. It was then that the Bloody Baron, the ghost that had haunted the school in penance, made his presence known. 

"You fools failed to keep your own safe. You all failed, and now you will all pay the price."

The teachers were startled by the stark warning but began their search through the corridor to try to find the cause of the storm. It wasn't until Sprout heard the same crying her prefect had earlier that they made headway in their investigation. Upon opening a small abandoned room, they noticed the carnage was at it's worst. Blast marks emanated from the far corner, and dust from destroyed wood and metal was everywhere. But as they looked into the corner, Sprout gasped loudly and turned her head as tears began to pour down her face. 

Albus stepped forward and was soon overwhelmed by the sight of a small boy lying lifeless on a broken cot, blue from the cold and surrounded by frozen blood. It was clear that this child suffered greatly, and it wasn't all due to the cold. This was also done before the storm in the corridor, as the body was pale and blue. The cold really had done a number on the poor child. He reached down to see who the child was but he already had a terrible suspicion. Dread filled him, as he laid a hand on the child's body. As he did and pulled to reveal the child's face, sparks lit up his arm giving him a great shock. This child would not leave a ghost by any means, but the magic left behind would be vengeful, that Albus knew.

Minerva, Severus, and Filius all went around Dumbledore who was nursing his arm and say the face of the now dead child. Down in the dungeons of Hogwarts, Harry Potter died friendless, alone, beaten, and cold. And there was nothing they could do about it. 

\--//--

-Daily Prophet Special Edition-  
September 9, 1991

GRAVE NEWS AT HOGWARTS

It has been officially released that indeed something tragic has has happened within the hallowed halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Rumors have been circling around about something happening inside the school but no one could even begin to guess what truly happened. This was the statement released by Amelia Bones, Head of the D.M.L.E., on behalf of the Ministry.

"The situation that has happened at Hogwarts has been revealed to be murder. A child was found dead within the dungeons of the school, with numerous injuries on the body. We will not be releasing any information at this time until our investigation is completed, which should hopefully within the next few days. We are already interviewing of age students and will soon begin interviewing underage students when parents have been contacted and informed. We are hoping that someone may have some information concerning this heinous act that has befallen our community and our children."

Hopefully we will soon learn more information concerning this terrible tragedy and have justice for those who decided to prey upon our children. Updates will happen as they are received.

-Daily Prophet Morning Edition-  
September 11, 1991

ARREST OF SEVERAL STUDENTS

It has been recorded that several students have been arrested in the investigation of the murder at Hogwarts. Thanks to extensive use of Veritaserum, a lead was found that led to the arrest of five underage students. Their names are currently being held from the public due to their status as underage. Their trials will be set for a few days from now, where the final remarks on the murder, including the victim's identity, will be told.

 

-Daily Prophet Morning Edition-  
September 13, 1991

MASS CHANGES AT HOGWARTS

Due to the severe investigation of Hogwarts due to the recent murder (to be resolved by September 15th), there has been decision for major sweeping changes to our system of education regarding teachers, methods, and safety. The Ministry, The Board of Education, and several others heading up different investigations have come to a conclusion for things needed at Hogwarts. 

First and foremost was staff. Both Sybill Trelawney and Silvanus Kettleburn are being released from their contracts. The Divination class is being eliminated and will instead a budget will be installed for the hire of tutors for those who possess talent and interest in the area. Kettleburn is being released for his own health and safety and the Board will be now looking for a new professor to fill the role. Shockingly, Severus Snape is also being replaced but due to his arrest for child abuse and neglect. It has been found that he, while maintaining the safest classroom for potions in over a hundred years, he has been verbally abusing students not within the Slytherin house since the beginning of his tenure as well as no concern for students who are injured by mistakes. Instead, according to reports, he would belittle a child who made a mistake and then force them to walk themselves to the infirmary on their own power to receive medical treatment. 

It also has been stated in the report that Albus Dumbledore, long time Headmaster and member of the Wizenmagot, has decided to retire. It seems as though it is a joint decision by the conducting Board but also himself. The official statement is that he can no longer bear the responsibility properly and that the weight of a child's death has added negatively to his mental health. What the now former headmaster will do with his days will remain to be seen, but for now, Hogwarts will be searching for a new Headmaster. Minerva McGonagall, long term Transfiguration teacher and Assistant to the Headmaster, will be taking over the the Headmaster position in the interim. 

For the curriculum, everything will be searched through with a fine toothed comb as several classes have been found lacking and out of date. Most notably is the History of Magic, which has focused on Goblin Wars and nothing else no matter the year level, and Muggle Studies which is roughly fifty years out of date. 

An official and full compilation of changes will soon be released by the Board of Education, no later than January 1.

-Daily Prophet Special Edition-  
September 15, 1991

MURDERERS FOUND GUILTY, BOY-WHO-LIVED DEAD!

Yes, you read that right. It is unfortunately my duty to report that Harry Potter, 11, has indeed been revealed as the murder victim. The boy who had been responsible for the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was found deep within the bowels of the dungeons on September 6, after failing to show up to classes all week. The autopsy report has revealed that before passing, Potter was tortured by cutting spells, beatings, and even a Cruciatus spell. There was even findings by the medical and autopsy team that showed beatings prior to arriving at Hogwarts which has started an investigation into Potter's guardians. 

The five who are responsible for the attack have all been sentenced to expulsion from school, wands snapped, and will be placed in a low security cell in Azkaban until their eighteenth birthday where they will be retried as adults and have their sentences updated. 

The investigation found that all five are directly linked to former Death Eaters and have had motive for ruining the chance of victory in the last war. It was also noted that they were offended that a symbol of light such as Potter was placed within the house of Slytherin, and that they did not want to disgrace their house with dirty blood. It should be noted that blood supremacy views did not become prevalent in Slytherin house until the rise of the Dark Lord Grindlewald in the twenties and thirties. 

Due to Potter's shocking sorting at the beginning of the school year, the boys took it upon themselves to make sure that "Potter learned his place". They left him in the coldest part of the dungeon which is where Potter eventually succumbed to his injuries. It was ultimately the cold that caused the death of Harry Potter, but he had no strength to move from the room in which he received his unearned torture, nor did he have the knowledge of the castle to find help even if he was able. By leaving the child in the cold room, the boys had sentenced Harry Potter to die. 

As part of the initiative to change within Hogwarts, this event has created what will be known as the Harry Potter Initiative. An increase in staff will occur to help monitor the school for bullying. This is to help those who are under the constant fear of their peers but also to help the students become more comfortable and safe at school. There will also be a large focus on making sure Slytherin house is protected as well, as this is yet another black mark in the last fifty years on it's otherwise proud history. This was brought to attention by Amelia Bones (former Hufflepuff) who wanted to make sure that there was no retaliation against students who did not have a hand in the death of Harry Potter. Aurors have already been placed at Hogwarts in the interim to help ensure school safety. 

As for the burial of Harry Potter, a service will be held in Godric's Hallow on September 17, where the boy will be laid to rest next to his heroic parents. details will come further. Minister Fudge has already proclaimed that the day will be a nationwide holiday in remembrance for the freedom that we owe to the Potter family. 

Here at the Daily Prophet, we offer our condolences in this time of sorrow and mourning.

To Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived.

May you rest in peace.


End file.
